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I was recently invited to present in front of a panel at the Ultra Light Startups in January. I’ve been to these meetups in the past (ie Open Source CMS), but this is one is different. I’ve been selected among 5 other presenters to the Revenue Model Workshop. At this event they selected 5 startups to give a brief presentation of their business, focusing on their revenue model. A panel of experts will provide insights, suggestions, and helpful alternatives for the entrepreneur to consider as methods to generate more revenue from their business more efficiently.

This is a great chance for me to learn how to monetize it RezRedo.com (advertisement to the left of this blog). VC Fred Wilson said on his blog, “Most web apps will be monetized with some kind of media model. Don’t think banner ads when I say that. Think of all the various ways that an audience that is paying attention to your service can be paid for by companies and people who want some of that attention.” The question is which model to choose?

Chris Anderson of Wired.com, put together a strong Media Business Model list of revenue models you can find in the media industry, all based around a core of free or almost-free content:

Cost Per Install (popular with top Facebook apps who can help others get installs)

E-commerce (selling stuff directly on your website)

Sponsorships (ads of some sort that are sold based on time, not on the number of impressions)

Listings (paying a time based amount to list something like a job or real estate on your website)

Paid Inclusion (a form of CPC advertising where an advertiser pays to be included in a search result)

Streaming Audio Advertising (like radio advertising delivered in the audio stream after a certain amount of audio content has been delivered)

Streaming Video Advertising (like streaming audio but in video)

API Fees (charging third parties to access your API)

A lot of your revenue model choices depend on B2B vs. B2C. Some work for both, while others are particular to the type of regular transactions that will be taking place. At this point, I have narrowed down my choices based off of this list and I hope this helped you do the same.